The resolution of a long-running dispute between 77-year-old Larry Orr and the state of Michigan has brought an extraordinary chapter of Great Lakes history back into public view. Nearly five decades after he discovered a rare life ring from the doomed Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck, Orr has regained possession of the artifact and secured a $600,000 settlement from the state.
The unusual series of events leading to this outcome intertwines a historic maritime tragedy, a discredited criminal investigation, and a controversial attempt by state officials to fold a priceless relic into a legal negotiation. Orr’s case now stands as a striking example of personal perseverance amid a complicated mix of wrongful prosecution, state overreach, and the enduring legacy of one of America’s most iconic shipwrecks.
A Historic Artifact Discovered in the Aftermath of Tragedy
When the SS Edmund Fitzgerald vanished beneath Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, taking all 29 crew members with it, it became the subject of intense public attention and one of the most haunting maritime disasters in U.S. history. Just eight days later, Larry Orr, then a young Michigan resident, was walking along the remote shoreline of the Upper Peninsula when he came across an orange life ring and a piece of a lifeboat.
Both items were clearly marked and unmistakably linked to the Fitzgerald. The moment, he recalled decades later, was deeply unsettling. Standing on a quiet stretch of shoreline, holding what might have been a final trace of a lost sailor, he searched the area for footprints or other signs that someone might have reached land alive. None were found.
The life ring remained one of the vanishingly few pieces of the ship ever recovered, making it an artifact of enormous historical significance. The Fitzgerald’s final voyage has long been the subject of enduring fascination, with countless books, memorials, and investigations dedicated to the vessel’s mysterious final moments.
The ship itself lies broken on the lakebed, and the site is protected, leaving only items that washed ashore in the immediate aftermath as accessible pieces of the tragedy. For decades, Orr allowed the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Paradise, Michigan, to display the ring. Visitors who viewed it saw not just a remnant of an infamous wreck, but a rare physical connection to a lost crew and a vessel whose story continues to resonate across generations.
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Orr never sought profit from the relic and made no attempts to sell it. For him, it was an object tied to a traumatic moment in regional history, one that he believed should be available for public display. This perspective made the state’s later conduct particularly difficult for him to accept. As the years passed, he retained legal ownership of the ring even while it remained on display, a detail that would become unexpectedly critical in the 2020s.
A Police Misconduct Case Takes an Unexpected Turn
The circumstances that brought the life ring into a legal dispute emerged from an entirely separate matter. In 2019, Orr was arrested and charged in a sexual abuse investigation that was later discredited. He was jailed for five months, placed under house arrest, and subjected to a series of legal hardships before all charges were dropped. Orr later filed a lawsuit claiming that Michigan State Police Lt. David Busacca had violated his rights during the investigation. According to Orr and his attorney, Shannon Smith, the case was marred by misconduct and mishandling from its earliest stages.
During the investigation, officers conducted a search of Orr’s home in Michigan and reviewed documents indicating his ownership of the Fitzgerald relic. That detail, which had no connection to the allegations against him, resurfaced years later in a way that deeply troubled both Orr and his legal team. As settlement discussions progressed in autumn 2025, the state unexpectedly raised the subject of the life ring, expressing interest in acquiring it as part of the agreement.
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Orr interpreted this as coercive and manipulative—an attempt to use his financial vulnerability against him. At the time, he was living in a recreation vehicle in Yulee, Florida, and seeking funds to stabilize his housing situation. The proposed settlement, which originally hovered around $300,000, increased to $600,000 only after the life ring was brought into the discussion. Orr later described the process as deeply unsettling and said he felt boxed into a corner. Although he agreed to the terms at the time, he continued to believe the state’s approach was improper.
The Associated Press eventually uncovered details of the deal, reporting them publicly on October 23. In the wake of the coverage, Michigan State Police spokesperson Shanon Banner stated that the department was “not comfortable” with how the relic had been folded into the negotiations. Additional conversations among the parties led to a new agreement: Orr would receive his artifact back, and the state would still pay the full $600,000 settlement. This outcome resolved both the misconduct lawsuit and the dispute over the life ring, though the unusual intersection of the two became a matter of public scrutiny.
A Resolution Five Decades in the Making
After 50 years, Orr now once again holds legal possession of the life ring he first discovered in 1975. The artifact, with its fading stencil reading “Fitzgerald,” remains a powerful reminder of the shipwreck that shaped the maritime history of the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum, where the ring had hung on display for decades, is expected to return it, although its eventual fate may now be tied to Orr’s financial needs. He has openly acknowledged that he may sell the piece at auction, noting that he is working to buy a modular home and that his wife’s car is failing.
At 77, he is focused on stabilizing the final years of his life after the emotional and financial strain caused by the criminal case and its aftermath. Orr expressed relief at the resolution but also lingering frustration over the ordeal. He believes the settlement should have been larger given the extent of the state’s actions against him, but he has accepted the outcome. The settlement funds will allow him to move beyond the years of legal setbacks, incarceration, and uncertainty that followed the discredited investigation.
The unusual attempt by state officials to negotiate away a historic maritime artifact in the process has raised broader questions about government conduct, property rights, and the ethics of leveraging unrelated personal possessions in legal settlements. The return of the life ring also holds significance beyond Orr’s personal story. For historians, maritime researchers, and the families connected to the Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy, artifacts from the wreck represent rare and important pieces of collective memory. ‘
With the ship resting undisturbed at the bottom of Lake Superior and protected by both law and tradition, items that drifted ashore in the days after the sinking remain some of the only tangible links to the vessel. Should Orr choose to place the ring on the market, it would likely generate significant interest from collectors or institutions seeking to preserve elements of Great Lakes maritime history.
As Orr considers his next steps, he finds himself once again at a crossroads that involves both the relic and the long shadow of the Edmund Fitzgerald. What began as a haunting discovery on a cold Michigan shoreline in 1975 eventually became intertwined with the complexities of a modern legal battle. With the artifact now back in his possession and financial compensation secured, the decades-long journey surrounding the life ring has reached an unusual and compelling conclusion.